The Factory
by Soul Raider 116
Summary: What starts out as a Yeerk free weekend quickly disintigrates into a race to stop the construction of a free clinic which will esensially be used as a infestation factory by the Yeerks.
1. Rachel

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Animorphs; it is the ingenious creation of K.A. Applegate._

**A/N:** _I don't know how often I'll be able to update, I have too many other stories going at once, but I figured I'd go ahead and post this. I already have the next chappie, so let me know what you think!_

Chapter 1: Rachel

"You know," I said to Cassie as I turned a back-hand-spring, "You don't have to wait for him to ask you out first. We all know that you two like each other."

"Yeah, I mean, I guess the whole world knows. But that doesn't make it any less awkward." Cassie shrugged and sunk down against a tree that was on the border of her property. She bent her knees so she could lean forward on them, and her jeans came halfway up her calves.

I rolled my eyes at her, "Sure. Hey, where did you get those jeans, baby gap?"

"What's wrong with my jeans?" Cassie looked up at me. She's my best friend, but I swear the girl just checked in from another planet. And knowing the way my life works, it wouldn't surprise me.

"We need to get you to the mall, and get some pants that don't scream, 'hey Noah, build the ark!'" It was her turn to roll her eyes. It was a conversation we'd had a hundred times before. We may be best friends, but we are almost nothing alike. I mean, I guess I'm pretty obsessed with shopping and stuff, and she indulges me, even though she doesn't share my passion. She's into animals, something I've come to appreciate a lot more since that night when my shopping obsession landed us in the middle of an inter-planetary war.

Lost? Yeah, I would be too. Let's start from the beginning. One seemingly normal evening I convinced my best friend in the whole world to go shopping with me, we were going to try and find her something cute to wear and impress my cousin Jake, who she has a huge crush on. We happened to meet up with him and his annoying buddy Marco as they were leaving the arcade; they had this sweet, kinda dorky kid named Tobias with them. We took a short cut home, found a dying alien, he told us about an alien invasion and gave us this amazing ability to change into animals. To sum it all up, I'm Rachel, and I'm an Animorph.

You wanna know the worst part about the whole night? I mean, besides the whole inter-planetary warfare thing? Cassie didn't buy a single outfit.

Anyway, her crush on my cousin is precisely what we had been discussing, and she reminded me of that in a hurry, "Right. But, still, Rach, do you think Jake would go out with me? I mean, we don't exactly get much opportunity for peaceful, romantic evenings."

"You'll never know till you ask!" I stressed the word ask, just to be certain she heard it.

"Yeah, it's just that easy. What about you? Have you asked Tobias out?" Cassie gave me a grin as I turned and looked at her, embarrassed. I hadn't realized we were that obvious, although lately, it had been getting harder and harder for Tobias and me to hide our feelings.

"Well, no. But that's different! It's a lot more complicated than you and Jake!" It really was too. See, there's a catch to our morphing powers, stay in morph more than two hours, and you stay forever. Tobias had broken that rule, and was now a red-tailed hawk, although an all powerful being had given him back his morphing powers, he could only be human two ours at a time, "I mean, going to movie would be cutting his time limit a little close for comfort."

"So don't go to a movie." She said simply, "Go out to eat instead. Or go to The Gardens. He could demorph and remorph in the boys' bathroom."

The Gardens is a cross between an amusement park, and a zoo. Cassie's mother works there as a vet. Her father is a vet too, but he works out of her barn, treating injured wildlife. It's no wonder the girl is majorly animal obsessed.

"I don't know." I said as I thought over the possibility of an actual date with Tobias.

"We could make it double. I'll ask out Jake, if you ask out Tobias." She climbed to her feet again, standing in front of me, obviously still nervous at the prospect of asking out my cousin.

"Ok, fine. On one more condition." I said giving her a sly smile.

"Come on Rachel!" Cassie had caught on to what I was going to ask, "There is absolutely no reason I should have to-"

"Cassie, it's just a little shopping trip. And even if you don't want to get anything, I'm still getting a new outfit, and Tobias is going to need some clothes to!"

"Fine, I'll go shopping with you, but I can't afford any new clothes." Cassie said with a sigh.

"Great. Let's get inside so you can call Jake!" I grinned at her and grabbed her wrist to drag her into her house, but she didn't budge, "What now?"

"Nothing, but while we're out here, you may as well ask Tobias. His meadow is just over there." She pointed towards the field where Tobias hunted.

"Ok then, I'll ask Tobias first. But you'd better not back out on me, or I'm gonna call Jake and ask him for you!" I started walking to Tobias's meadow, feeling a little nervous despite myself. When I got there, I saw him perched in a tree, preening, "Hey, Tobias!"

He looked over and saw me waving at him, (Oh, hey Rach!)

"Say, Tobias, I was wondering if you'd like to spend Saturday as a normal human boy. You know, go out." I said casually with a shrug.

(You mean out as in a date?) Tobias asked sounding a little more nervous about it than I was.

"Well, yeah. Like a date." Suddenly I wasn't sure if Tobias really liked me as much as I had thought, "I figured we could double with Cassie and Jake."

(Those two are finally going out together, huh?) He laughed as Cassie blushed slightly at his comment, (Fine then, but don't forget about the complications.)

"Don't worry, I didn't. Cassie suggested The Gardens. You could use the Men's room for morphing, and that way you don't really miss anything."

(Gardens. Cool, haven't been there outside of business reasons in a long time.)

"So, it's a date." I smiled at him.

(Yup, a date.) He ruffled his feathers.

"Great, now I just have to make sure Cassie doesn't try and weasel out of calling Jake." I smirked at her, and she was blushing brighter than ever.

"I'll call him!"

"You'd better!"

_Ok, so the date isn't the main part of the story, but it seemed like a cute way to start it off. And really, how often did K.A. start with the main plot anyway? There was usually some side story she'd start with, some semi-normal aspect of life, so here it is. Besides, I know you all like fluff! Don't lie! Don't! I hope I did Rachel well; pretty much the main character I have experience with is Marco._


	2. Jake

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Animorphs. They are the property of K.A. Applegate. _

Chapter 2: Jake

Marco had downloaded some classic Nintendo games onto my computer. I was kicking his butt big time at Mario Bros. when the phone rang, "Tom! Answer the phone!"

My parents were out, and it was probably a Sharing call for Tom anyways. The Sharing is this combined Boy Scout Girl Scout thing that served as a front for the Yeerks. Tom was a controller, and my older brother. We both played casual around each other, not wanting the other to suspect that anything was out of the ordinary, of course, Tom didn't know that I was an Animorph, if he did, I wouldn't be around.

Tom answered the phone downstairs. "Hey, Midget!" He called up, using the nickname he had used since forever, even though it wasn't really him, but the Yeerk, "It's for you! It's a girl!" He laughed mockingly having ensured he would embarrass me.

"Rachel, or Cassie, calling to ruin the day." Marco predicted.

Immediately I grabbed the cordless, hitting the talk button, "Hello?"

There was a click as Tom hung up the other line then, "Hey, it's Cassie."

Marco was watching, amusedly, the computer on pause as he leaned back in the chair arms folded in front of him, waiting for his suspicions that this was Animorphs related to be confirmed.

"Oh, hey Cassie." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Marco nod in an 'I told you so' fashion, "What's up?"

"Um…" There was a weird silence during which I heard Rachel hissing something at her in the background.

"'Um', what?" I asked.

"You wanna hang out on Saturday?" She said so quickly I barely understood it.

"Hang out? Like, at your place?" I asked, thinking she was using code for having a meeting.

"No." She hesitated, and once more I heard Rachel in the background, "At The Gardens, like, like a date."

"A, a date?" I repeated, Marco choked on the pretzels he had just put in his mouth.

"Yeah. Rachel and Tobias are coming too. If you want to go, that is." Cassie was obviously a little embarrassed to be asking me out.

"Rachel and Tobias? Um, if nothing else comes up, that sounds great." I sat at the edge of my bed, "What time?"

I saw Marco mouthing the words, "About time," and I waved a hand at him to try and get him to stop. This just egged him on though, and he turned around pretending like he was making out with someone, I rolled my eyes and stifled a laugh.

Cassie consulted Rachel for the time before answering, "How's 1:00 sound?"

"Sounds great." I replied, looking at the calendar on my wall, a basketball calendar that said today was Friday, and my clock on the nightstand, it was 6:00, "See you tomorrow at one then."

"Yeah. See you then." She said, and I heard Rachel give a shout of celebration in the background.

"Tell Rachel hi for me, since she's there." I said, earning a laugh from Cassie.

"Rach says hi back." Cassie's voice came from the other end of the line, "Well, bye."

"Yeah, bye." I said and we both hung up the phone.

Marco laughed out loud and came over to sit next to me on the bed, "It's about time! I thought you two were never going to get it together!"

"Oh shut up." I said, quickly scanning over my closet from where I sat to see what I would wear, "It's just a date. And what do you think the odds are we'll even get through the whole thing without being interrupted?"

"I don't know." Marco said with a shrug, "It's been kind of quiet lately, you might manage to get away with it, then again, we're over due for some catastrophe, aren't we?"

"Let's not jinx it." I said, glancing to the door to make sure Tom wasn't listening in.

Marco looked at my clock, "Great, I'm late for dinner. Dad's gonna wonder where I am. Can I use your phone real quick?"

"Sure." I handed Marco the phone. He called his dad to let him know he was running late, and then took off for his house. I shouted after him from the front door, "I'll finish kicking you're but later!"

"Fat chance! You were winning by a one time fluke!" Then he raced down the street and out of sight, and I was left alone to worry about my date with Cassie the next day.

_Once again, I hope I did a satisfactory job as this character. The date may take up a couple chapters, bear in mind this is in a mega morphs style, so I'm gonna try and work in as many perspectives of the date as possible. Hmmm, do you think I should have Marco spy on the date? I don't know if I can picture it, but I sort of can, because it's just that maniacal. Lol! Next up is a Cassie chapter!_

**Chris**: Yes, lol, the true fans still re-read the books! All hail the true fan!

**Quillian**: Thanks!

**LilManiac**: I read your story, it's great! Now, why does the date have to be ruined? Typically, it would be, I know, lol! I just have yet to decide how it will be.

**Krazi lil aus**: Yay! I have another great story! Woopie!


	3. Cassie

**Disclaimer:**_I do not own Animorphs, I just like to write about them, and pretend I am one, even though in reality I'm a pathetic 20 year old lol!_

Chapter 3: Cassie

It was early Saturday morning when the phone rang. I heard my father grumbling as he got up to answer, and I refused to even open my eyes, hoping that the call wasn't what I thought it was. A few minutes later my dad knocked on my bedroom door, I groaned as I rolled out of bed and wrapped myself in a bathrobe, heading to get the phone.

As I opened my door and Dad handed me the receiver, he muttered, "Tell Rachel she needs to call at a decent hour."

I made a small grunt as a reply as he left and I shut the door behind him, sitting on the edge of my bed and looking at the clock, "Rach, it's seven on a Saturday morning. Please tell me this isn't about shopping, please tell me there's some emergency reason that you called."

If Rachel was calling me this early on a Saturday, the Yeerks had darn well better be launching a full scale attack. Granted I'd be getting up in about a half an hour to feed the animals out in the barn anyway, but it's the principle of the thing.

"Sorry if I woke you." Rachel said, "But I just wanted to remind you that the mall opens in like an hour, and then we've got to get date clothes for you, me, and Tobias, and get ourselves ready to meet Tobias in his clearing at twelve thirty so he can morph and get dressed, then we're going to meet Jake at The Gardens at one."

"And it's going to take us that long to shop?" I mumbled, not even bothering to argue that I wasn't planning on buying anything.

"Well, we want to beat the crowds! And then, we need to set aside time to do hair and makeup and get changed…"

"Hold on, I don't remember saying I was going to wear any makeup or anything! And as far as my hair, it won't exactly take long to do." I had always kept my hair really short; it was easier to take care of that way.

"Ok, well, we need to do our makeup and my hair then." Rachel continued.

"Rach, I'm not wearing makeup!" I sighed exasperatedly, lying back on my bed.

"We'll see about that." She said nonchalantly, "Anyway, meet me at the mall in and hour and a half, ok?"

"Fine." I moaned in defeat.

So an hour and a half later I was walking through the mall with Rachel. She would occasionally spy a sale, and drag me into a store. I trailed along after her, not really all that interested in the clothing, but she was my best friend, and I made her do stuff that interests me, like that time a couple years ago that I dragged her on a bird watching trip with my father. Of course, since we've become Animorphs, her interest in animals has grown, though mostly she wants to know how much fire power they pack.

I sighed as Rachel held up a shirt of a sales rack in the men's section, "Wouldn't Tobias look cute in this?" She asked as she checked the price tag, "Oh! And it's a great deal too! 25 percent off!" She draped it over her arm with a bunch of other shirts she was carrying around.

"Rachel," I asked as she darted over to yet another clearance rack, "How many shirts does Tobias need for one date?"

"Well, I figure this way he has extras. You know…in case he just feels like going out." She added the last part in a whisper. It would be a rather odd comment for anyone to overhear, even if it didn't reveal anything about our secret.

"I guess you're right." I shrugged, "I mean, getting him new clothes every time we have to go somewhere is a bit of a hassle."

"Right and he can keep them in Ax's scoop, so storage isn't a problem." She added as she spotted a pair of jeans that looked like they belonged on a pop star, "Score! He'll love these!"

I smiled. I was pretty sure that she and Tobias had different ideas of what he would love, but at least she was trying. Then my smile turned to a grimace when I saw her eyes drift to the lady's department. Faster than you could say, 'no new clothes' she had darted over and grabbed a shirt from the rack, then trotted back over, and was holding it in front of me.

"This is a good color for you." She said matter-of-factly.

I eyed the powder-blue blouse and fell back on my usual excuse, "Rachel, I don't have any money."

"So I'll lone you the money." She said as she shoved me towards a fitting room, grabbing a black skirt on the way there, and thrusting both items of clothing into my hands as she slammed the door shut on me, "Just try them on!"

With a defeated sigh I looked at the clothes in my arms. The skirt had an interesting look to it, with frills around the bottom that would fan out if I span, and the blouse had ruffles on the sleeves, "Rach, I'm never going to wear this stuff."

"Sure you will, we have a date later." Rachel replied from outside the fitting rooms.

"Yeah, at an amusement park, I'm not wearing a skirt to an amusement park." I retorted.

"Like you're going to spend anytime on the rides anyways." I knew from her tone that Rachel was rolling her eyes at me, "I know how much you don't like thrill rides, you and Jake will spend all your time in the zoo part."

"And where will you and Tobias be?" I asked, "Isn't this supposed to be a double date?"

"Relax, I'll find you some slacks or something instead, geeze! But it wouldn't kill you to where a skirt once and a while." She muttered the last part under her breath.

"I heard that!" I shouted.

"I know, that was the point." She replied from further away than she had been, evidently in search of the perfect pair of slacks, and we both laughed.

I slipped into the blouse, it didn't look to bad, I supposed as I buttoned it up. I knew I would be nothing compared to Rachel. I mean, if she weren't fighting aliens, she'd be a supermodel. She looks like she just climbed out of seventeen magazine. Perfect blond hair, perfect blue eyes, and she can walk through a mud puddle and come out spotless.

Me on the other hand, I'm a short black girl, with short hair, and manure stained boots. If I didn't know Jake, I'd wonder how he could ever like me. He's good looking, very good looking. Tall, with gorgeous brown hair and eyes, being good looking must just run in their family. But, Jake doesn't care about looks at all, he's not that shallow. I think he has one picture of me, and in all my manure booted glory, and while I would like to give him a snapshot of me in a dress, I think he'd prefer the one he has. He'd say that the one he has is more the real me, and he'd be right.

"Here," Rachel said as she threw a pair of black slacks over the door to the fitting room, breaking me out of my thoughts. I caught them and slipped them on, looking at myself in the mirror.

"I don't know Rach." The slacks were nice, and the shirt was nice, but I wasn't sure if they were right on me. The slacks had those bottoms that flared out some; the shirt didn't button up quite far enough to hide my cleavage, "I'm not sure if Mom and Dad would ever let me wear this shirt!"

"Let me see." She said, and so I walked out, a little uncertainly, feeling like I must have looked like an idiot, "Cassie! You look great!" She said as she beamed, absorbing the thrill of having found a wonderful deal on something that looked good on me.

"Really?" I asked, looking down at myself, still not certain.

"Yeah, I still say you should get the skirt too though." She sighed as she looked at the skirt hanging on the doorknob.

"No, the shirt, fine, I'll even get the pants, but I'm never going to wear that skirt if I get it!"

"Fine, fine." She said with another sigh.

I quickly changed into my regular clothing and she scooped up all her sale items and headed for the register. We checked out, and headed for the food court, ordering ourselves some cinnabons and an extra cinnabon for Ax, since he loved them so much.

As we sat down to eat, I opened the bag that had my shirt in it, still wondering how she had talked me into getting it. Then I saw a black frill sticking out from under the shirt. I reached into the bag and pulled out the skirt from the store, "Rachel! I thought I said not to get the skirt!"

"But you so desperately needed it." She said casually as she took a bite of her cinnabon.

_Viola! I swear, the story isn't going to center around the date. I think this is going to be a rather long fic though, as it may take me awhile to get to the main plot. At any rate, I hope I've stayed in character, though I'm not sure. It's been a while since I read a Cassie book._

_Next Chapter: Marco._

Qwerty: Yay! I'm glad I can pass off K.A.'s style!

Rebell: Marco ain't rotten, I love Marco! –kidnapps Marco and keeps him in her closet-

Krazi little Aus: Tension indeed…lol

Lil Maniac: Of course it's funny! I live for comedy! Comedy, and Angst…I'm bipolar, lol.

Quillian: Thanks


	4. Marco

**A/N: **_I know how much you all love the Marco Caitlin relationship I created in The Girl, but I've decided to revert back to an old classic, the Marco/Rachel/Tobias triangle, in which Marco gets…well, basically ignored by Rachel. Oh, and in the story, bold italics are words on the computer screen, or written on paper._

Chapter 4: Marco

It was early; I hadn't been able to sleep, so I was up on my computer. I'd started keeping a journal, no, not a diary, a journal, recently, using a code I had made up in case I decide to right something about the Animorphs. But right now, I had a different topic. I sat up typing away all night, just ranting about feelings I had never even told Jake about.

_**It's not fair, really! I mean, I've known her longer, what with being Jake's best friend. I'm a funny guy, right? I mean, of course I am. I know some people think I'm immature, but come on, that is so not true! Besides that, he's a bird! A stinking bird! How on earth could that possibly have happened? Supermodel hottie Rachel falling for a guy like Bird-boy, who more often than not had his head shoved in a toilet when he was human. It's not fair.**_

I stared at the entry on the screen. Maybe being a dweeb turned her on. Although, she'd practically accused me of dweebiness before, so that couldn't be it. I sighed softly and saved the file, then went and curled up in my bed, pulling the covers over my head. It was around seven in the morning.

I just laid there and thought things over. I'd had a crush on Rachel for a long time, if I was going to be honest with myself. But, I'd never admitted it. Sure, I'd joked about it, that's what I did. But I never seriously thought of acting on it. First of all, I wasn't sure I wouldn't be rejected, second of all, she was my best friend's cousin. I didn't know how Jake would react to my hitting on his cousin, though he was dating his cousin's best friend, wasn't he?

Maybe that was where I had gone wrong, I'd worried too much about what Jake would think, instead of making my move when I'd had the chance. But it was to late now, Rachel had Tobias, and we all had to work together, so being jealous wasn't an option, though right now it was hard to help being a little jealous as I thought of them holding hands as the walked through The Gardens, imagined Tobias giving Rachel a kiss goodnight after their date.

"It's not fair." I muttered. But when was life ever fair? You live, you laugh, you get on with life. My mom taught me that. And problems of the heart were the last thing I had to worry about right now, in the middle of a war.

_Ok, I know this chappie was uber short, but it's just filler anyways. And I know Marco was like, totally out of character, and I'm sorry about that! I tried, really! But writing all this jealousy stuff just didn't work as well as I wanted it too! But I'm adding it anyways, because I feel like it. And it gives Marco a reason to follow them on their date! _

_Next Chap: Rach again._


End file.
